1 Kings 19:1-18 “God’s Whisper”
INTRODUCTION
Today is All Saints Sunday. It is a time that the Church pauses to remember those who have gone before us and to celebrate their lives, their witness, and their faith. Historically it has been one of the high holy days—there are only five of them: Christmas, Easter, Trinity, All Saints, and Christ the King. Sanctuaries and pastors would be decked out in white in order to remind congregants of the day’s significance.
Our text today focuses on the life of an Old Testament saint, Elijah. Elijah's life reflects the lives of many saints. To be a saint is not to always be filled with God. Rather, it is trust in God's movement. It is the realization that God meets us in our despair and emptiness. It is in this meeting that God sustains the saints and sustains the church.
There is much that we can learn from Elijah in regards to living a life of faith and living as a disciple of Jesus Christ.
THE SETTING
In the chapter before today’s text (chapter 18), Elijah experiences one of the high points of his ministry. He had a showdown with the priests of Baal. Elijah showed the emptiness of their religion, and had the priests exterminated. Now, in verse 3, we read that Elijah is running for his life. Queen Jezebel was a supporter of Baal worship, and she is now out to get Elijah.
Elijah is depressed. In verse 4, he asks that he might die. The reason for his depression is an overwhelming sense of failure. Elijah has been zealous for the Lord, but the Israelites have forsaken their relationship with God. Elijah states in verse 14 that he believes he is the only one left who worships the Lord. An angel cares for Elijah and leads him to Mt Horeb (also known as Mt Sinai). It is on that mountain that the Lord teaches Elijah, and us, a great lesson.
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
Elijah’s experiences are not unique. Each and every one of us has had similar times in our lives; we’ve been really up and we’ve been really down.
For Desert Streams, as a congregation, we were really flying high when we received that anonymous gift for $100,000 and that unsecured loan for another $100,000. Those gifts enabled us to move forward on our building plans. Personally I was overwhelmed by the generosity of the members of this congregation. When we announced that one of our families had fallen on hard times, you responded by giving almost $1,000.00 to help this family. Wow! We can look at these examples and see God moving in a powerful way. But, then we have the down times.
Our construction plans have slowed down because we discovered contaminated soil on our land, and we haven’t been able to secure any financing for this project. We still are struggling to catch up on the General Fund so that we come out in the black at the end of the year. And of course, we are still struggling to grow as a congregation. It’s frustrating and discouraging. Where is God in all of this?
GOD’S REVELATION
God tells Elijah, in verse 11, when he’s up on Mt, Sinai, to “Go out and stand on the mountain.” There was a great wind that was so strong that it split rocks. There was an earthquake. There was a fire. God had used these elements to reveal himself to people previously, but God wasn’t in any of these events for Elijah. After the fire, there was sheer silence.
God whispered to Elijah in the silence. God renewed Elijah’s call, and sent Elijah back into ministry (vs. 15).
From this Elijah story, we learn that God never leaves us or forsakes us. Even in our depression, when we want to die, when we see ourselves as the greatest failures that the world has ever known God is with us. We also learn that God’s speaks to us in the silence.
This is hard for us to hear in our society today. We are surrounded by noise. We don’t like silence. We turn on our televisions and our car radios in order to fill up the silence. We grab our play stations and MP3 players in order to escape the silence. Things need to change if we are going to experience God in our ups and downs.
It is important for us to take time and be silent. During our prayer time, it is helpful to not just talk, but to also listen. As the Psalmist writes, “Be still and know that I am God.” When we are struggling, depressed, dealing with failure, it is vital that we turn our eyes away from the circumstances and focus our attention on Jesus. When we are silent and focused on Jesus, God speaks to us.
CONCLUSION
Whether we are up or down, as we move forward it is important for us to know at the very core of our being that when we can’t take one more step, God can... we’re not left alone. Know that God has sent angels to minister to us... (They could even be sitting right next to us this morning). And that angel challenges us even now... "Get up, and eat... we’ll need strength for the journey that is ahead of us..." It’s ok to feel uncertain, but take the nourishment that God offers... because no matter how it feels, or what we’ve lost, or what we’re dreading, or what we’ve done, God has a plan for us... Amen
